What's Under That Bushy Hair of Your's?
by Brooke Monica
Summary: He was so close to her, she noticed the pale moon light beautifully contrasting with his face. His deep blue eyes seeming to go on forever, she leaned up towards him, no conciseness to what she was doing."RHr Please R&R!
1. Kings Cross & Boring Summer

This is a repost! A couple of words have been changed and the chapters combined. A new chapter should be added soon! (like today)

* * *

**  
What's Under That Bushy Head of Yours**

**Chapter 1: King's Cross & Boring Summer**

Hermione wiped her bushy brown hair from her face. She watched as Mr. Weasley, Tonks, Mad-Eye, and Lupin walked across the station to talk to the frightful Dursleys. They seemed to be threatening Harry's uncle because he was turning a deep shade of red, and was glaring at all of them.

She walked up closer to get in better hearing rang. "Yes, even if you don't let Harry use the fellytone-" she heard Mr. Weasley say.

"_Telephone_," she whispered indignantly, only to hear someone laughing behind her. She whipped around to see Ron Weasley, her other best friend, giving her a huge smile.

"Your going to have to teach him more muggle words this summer, Hermione," he said his eyes full of laughter.

"Oh, I suppose-" but she was cut off by Harry walking up to them, ready for his good-byes.

Harry looked forlorn and Ron obviously wanting to cheer him up said, "We'll see you soon, mate." He put out his hand and Harry shook it, in a very mature way.

Hermione looked up at Harry and said, "Really soon, Harry. We promise." Harry nodded, and looked as if he was about to say something but was cut off by the Dursleys angry stomps as they clattered to their car. He followed after them into the bright June sunshine.

"Hermione, dear, we must be leaving too," said her mother lovingly.

"I'll just be a minute, Mum. I'll meet you in the car." She walked up to Ron and said awkwardly, "Well, best be off."

Ron smiled faded, "Oh, well, don't worry. I'll defiantly see you soon." Then he brought her into a one-handed bear hug. Hermione could hear his heart beat through his shirt, but pulled away when hearing her mother call for her from the car.

"Bye, Ron," she waved and ran off towards her car.

* * *

The sun crept through Hermione's window, filtering on to her bed. The smell of fresh grass lingered all around and birds were flying in and out the beautiful fluffy white clouds. June had arrived and peaked, and Hermione still hadn't heard from her best friends.

She woke up, yawning and stretching. Pulling herself up from her bed Hermione looked outside to see a wonderful summer day, but oddly wasn't cheered up by this at all. She was quite upset at the lack of news. Also she missed her best friends.

Ron had said she would see him soon, she remembered it. But when was soon? She sat down on her bed thinking hard. Would she have to wait till Harry could go to the Burrow? She new that wouldn't be for at least a month.

"Hermione, wake up its time for breakfast! Pancakes!" she heard her father yell from downstairs. Hermione sighed and quickly put her hair up in an extremely droopy lazy bun. She walked down stairs in an unusual gloomy mood.

"There you are," said her dad from over his newspaper, "you got us worried you slept in till 10."

Hermione shrugged and walked over to put a pancake on her plate. "I guess I was tired, that's all."

Her father and Mother exchanged glances. Then her father said, "Hermione, shouldn't you be going somewhere this summer?"

"Yes, like that lovely boy, Harry. What about him?"

Hermione looked down at her plate, "Harry has to stay at his aunt and uncle's till the end of July."

"Then how about Ron-"

Hermione cut her mother off, "Ron's busy this summer..."

Just then a tapping noise came from upstairs. "What in the world?" inquired her mother.

"I'll go see," said Hermione and she tore up the stairs. Following the strange tapping noise to her room she spied Pigwidgeon banging against her window. She dashed across the room and let the tiny owl soar in excitedly.

Hermione spied the letter in the leg and quickly went to retrieve. Obviously the he had thought Hermione was going to pet him and congratulate him for making his journey. He was caught off guard when she reached under him and yanked the parcel tied to his leg. Pig fell off her desk and onto the floor.

Hermione, not taking notice to this, ripped the letter open.

**Dear Hermione,**

**How's your summer been? Sorry I haven't written you sooner but Pig was sending a letter to Charlie in Egypt, which takes a good few weeks. And Errol died while taking a letter to Harry-**

Hermione remembered the old owl always collapsing on trips. He had been on his last leg for a couple years now, so it was no wonder he died. Still Hermione wondered how Ron had taken this. Ron sounded very nonchalant about the whole thing in his letter. Upon reflection she knew he didn't take pet deaths well, even if Scabbers HAD turned out to be a psycho loon who killed Harry's parents. Errol had been an old friend to the Weasley's and she would make sure to say something when and _if_ she ever saw them. With this in mind she went back to reading the letter.

**-****Also about Harry, Gin and I have an idea about his birthday...I'll tell you about it later. Ginny just reminded me to invite you over here. Can you come? My mum said anytime. So just return Pig with your answer and will try to floo over there and get you.**

**-Ron**

Hermione finally spotted the tiny owl hooting up from the floorand siad, "Pig, what are doing down there? Silly owl." It took about one more second for the letter to sink in, Ron had invited her to come over there. Of course she would come, right away! She then dashed down stairs and asked her parents breathlessly in one big word, "CANIGOTORONSHOUSE!"

"Hey slow down, Poppet."

"Can I go to Ron's?" Hermione repeated, a bit slower.

Her father looked sideways at Ms. Granger and then said, "Of course, but behave yourself."

"Yes!" And with that Hermione flew to her room to respond to Ron's letter. Just as she was dipping her quill into her ink a thought struck her, she didn't want to wait for Pig to get to Ron's. She wanted to go _tonight_.

Her boredom of just staying at her house had made Hermione more then eager to go to any wizard or witches house, well besides Draco Malfoy. Hermione sat down and thought then as if the chair had been electrocuted, jumped out of her chair again and ran to the fire place where she threw some powder- she had some for safe keeping but didn't have a lot, so she didn't use it often- and thrust her head forward into the flames.

"The Burrow!" she said. All of a sudden her head started swirling, it felt as if it was revolving on her shoulders. Then it stopped and she saw someone's feet right in her face.

"AWWW!" yelled Ron and he jumped back clutching his chest. "Hermione...what?"

She smiled, "Hey Ron! I just got your letter and my parents said it would be alright if I could come."

"Oh good," she heard him say faintly. He seemed to be a little shaken from her unannounced appearance.

Just then Ginny walked in, "Ron, what's wrong?"-then she spotted Hermione in the flames- "Oh hi Hermione! What's up?"

"Oh I was just telling Ron my parents said it was ok if I could come over to your house," she smiled back at her other red headed friend.

Ron seemed to regain himself more, "Oh good. How about if we pick you up around...7?"

"That sounds great, give me some time to pack," and with that she pulled herself from the flames and ran upstairs to throw some stuff together for her visit to the Burrow.

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Thanks for reading please review! 


	2. Midnight Tea & The Angry Suger Bowl

**Chapter 3: Midnight Tea & The Angry Teapot**

A few hours later Hermione was sitting on top of her bed looking round at her almost empty room. She had thrown almost _everything _into her trunk in one big pile. Then her true brainy side came over her and she had to fold each piece of clothing until they all fit in neatly.

She looked at the clock she still had an about half an hour till Ron would come to get her. Thinking to kill some time, she cracked open _Hogwarts a History_. And started reading it for the umpteenth time.

Wondering what plan Ron and Ginny had for Harry, Hermione turned the page without really taking in the words. She hoped it would be something to cheer him up, he was sure to be dreadfully unhappy this summer. She sighed at this thought and put down the book. "_Its no use, Ron's right, I **can** recite it in my sleep."_

Then she jumped realizing she had just thought _Ron's right._ She mentally slapped herself while tugging her large trunk downstairs. Hermione pulled and tugged at the trunk, huffing loudly. Then while going down the stairs someone said, "Let me help you with that." And picked it up from the other side concealing their face.

Assuming it was her father she huffed, "Thanks."

Then Ron's head popped out from the side of the trunk and said, "Sure! Hey Hermione!"

Hermione screamed, let off guard, and dropped the trunk on Ron's foot. "Umph! Hermione, what you do that for!"

Ron bent down the nurse his injured toes. "Oh I'm sorry Ron, you just...surprised me."

"Yes, as it's seven and only a few hours ago we agreed I would be coming, but I guess short term memory loss kicked in a bit late for you," He gave her a freckled grin and proceeded to help her downstairs, "So how's you summer been so far?"

"Painfully boring," she answered truthfully.

"Same, here. Well besides when Loony Lovegood came to or house and invited us over to her house for the day," he gave her a half smile and seemed to chuckle at the memory.

Hermione was about to ask what had happened when she heard Charlie's voice downstairs. "She'll be staying till term starts then? Well this should be interesting..."

Hermione and Ron walked around the corner to see Charlie by the fireplace covered it soot, and Mr. and Mrs. Granger sitting merrily around the living room.

Mrs. Granger took a sip of her drink, "Why so?" She tried to make her voice sound casual but there was defiantly a note of urgency in it.

"Oh just that I'm going to be in charge of a house, that soon will be filled with four teenager..." he chuckled, "There's going to be hormones seeping from the walls."

Hermione blushed at the thought; "I don't think so Charlie. Well, maybe from the boys."

"We'll see about that, Hermione," Charlie winked at her making her all the more embarrassed.

Ron seeming to realize she was blushing and quickly said, "Charlie we better be going..."

Charlie nodded and Ron and him took Hermione's trunk and told her they would see her in a bit. Hermione gave her parents hugs and farewells. "Promise to write" and "I'll try to stay out of trouble." Then proceeded to step into fiery grate. She landed flat on the floor, nose down, in the Weasley's kitchen.

She heard someone laugh and look up to see Ginny, for a second time today. "Hey."

"Oh hey, Hermione, you're all sooty," she laughed once more and walked up to start brushing off the grit from off Hermione's clothes.

"Oh, sorry next time _I'll try to miss the burning ashes while flying at lightning speed through the fireplace_!" she said indignantly but cracked a smile all the same.

* * *

Hermione started to get settled in, finding her trunk already in Percy's old room. Then she came back downstairs to see Ginny still in the kitchen ad offered to make her a drink. She was getting Hermione a drink when Ron walked in, obviously just from a shower, as his hair was all wet.

"He sorry about before, Charlie was being a git," he said spotting Hermione. Ron ruffled his hair making it messier and took the seat diagonal from her.

"Oh it was nothing, it's just that I don't think my parents are completely ok with letting me spend time with two boys all summer with just a brother in his twenties to supervise us."

Ginny took the seat next to Ron and handed Hermione her lemonade; "Do I even want to ask what happened?"

"No," said Hermione and Ron at once.

"Where are your parents anyway?" asked Hermione looking around the Burrow noticing it's absence of a lot more red-headed children.

"Fred and George they're trying to open up a Weasley's Wizard Weazes in Hogsmeade. Percy...well you know, in his place in London. As for our parents..."Ginny and Ron exchanged glances both looking as if they were about to crack up, "...there helping Bill out with the plans, the _wedding _plans."

Hermione's mouth dropped open, "NO! Really? Who? When?"

"To Fluer Delacour, turns out their relationship is a bit more intense than we thought, _the sly dog_. Bill told the family about two weeks ago. That's why my parents needed Pig so much," explained Ron.

"Well, that's great!" said Hermione aghast. ""I wonder what there kids would look like..." She suddenly had an image of little redheaded children with flowing hair, and sparkling blue eyes. She shook herself out of her stupor.

"...very strange combination they are."

* * *

That night, after Hermione had settled into her room, she lay awake. She couldn't sleep, she was so happy to be in her friend's house. But she couldn't help feeling worried about Harry who was a hundred miles away, miserable at his aunt and uncles. She hadn't gotten any mail from him, and apparently neither had Ron, even though both of them had both sent Harry multiple letters.

There was a squeak of a floorboard outside Hermione's door. She just assumed it was a magical creature of some kind that liked to wander at night. But then she saw the shadowy outline of someone walking downstairs.

She tiptoed over to the door and looked through the crack to see Ron making his way down the steps. She held her breath and followed him. He proceeded down the steps to the kitchen and pulled out something from the cupboard. Hermione leaned a little bit closer to see that he was holding a...teapot.

Hermione sighed realizing he was just making tea, "Hi Ron."

Ron jumped, startled. "Hermione! What you doing up?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

"Oh me...just," he gestured towards the teapot, "...making some tea."

"Can't sleep either?" she went and sat down. Ron's hair seemed almost blond in this light. His face seemed shadowed, like he hadn't slept properly in a few days.

He grunted and she assumed that was a yes. Ron broke that nasty silence unexpectedly, "I'm worried about him, Hermione."

She didn't have to ask who he was talking about, "Me too."

Ron went over and sat across from her, "He must be even worse than last year...with Sirius and everything." He bit his lip, "I'm scared he still thinks it's his fault."

Hermione cold feel a hot sensation behind her eyes and her throat was starting to hurt.

Ron kept talking seeming to understand the absence of speech from across the table, "And I'm scared when Sirius died, that I might not have lost just him...but I've lost Harry too."

She couldn't hold it in any longer and started sobbing into her arms. "OH RON!" She was hollering and knew she was going to wake up the rest of the house, but didn't care.

Hermione felt Ron's arms patting her on the back, she looked up to see he had come around the table to pat her on the back. But he was also making shushing noises to make her quiet.

He was so close to her, she noticed the pale moon light beautifully contrasting with his face. His deep blue eyes seeming to go on forever, she leaned up towards him, no conciseness to what she was doing.

Then the light flicked on, and she heard a voice from somewhere, "Hermione, everything alright? I heard you crying..."

It was Ginny in her pale pink pajamas standing at the bottom of the stairwell. Her flaming red hair messed up from sleeping on it. Hermione looked to see Ron's expression but he was pouring the boiling water into the cup making tea.

"No, it's ok Ginny, I'm fine. I guess I should have tried a little harder at keeping my voice down," she tried to give her a little smile. "I better get off to bed."

"Oh if your sure..." Ginny said faintly.

"Yes, I'm fine." And Hermione scampered up the stairs until she reached Percy's bedroom and flung herself into the bed hugging her knees.

What had just happened back there? Was she about to..._kiss_ Ron? No, surely not. She was just overwhelmed with all the stress from Harry. And with that comforting thought, she laid down on her pillow, and within a few minutes was asleep.

* * *

Over the next week Hermione had a blast at the Burrow. Most days she'd wake up then lazily go outside and read while Ron flew on his broom. She still was worried about Harry, but they had received a small note from him on Thursday saying he'd be coming on July 31, his birthday.

It was Sunday morning, and Hermione had wrapped herself in a towel ready to take a nice hot shower. She was humming to herself while slowly crossing the hall to reach the bathroom. All of a sudden a redheaded blur streaked past her and went into the bathroom, slamming the door right in her face.

"RON WEASLEY YOU LET ME IN THERE THIS MINUTE!" she screamed banging on the door. She heard a scrape of a shower curtain opening and then a muffled reply.

"Sorry Hermione, first come first serve!" She could here him sniggering.

"I _WAS _FIRST UNTIL YOU SO RUDELY CUT IN FRONT OF ME!" she stamped her foot on the ground. "SO BE A GENTLMAN AND LET ME IN!"

Ron's head popped out the door. Hermione could see the steam from his shower pouring out of from behind him.

"I'll act like a gentleman when _you_ start acting like a lady," he gave her an evil grin and went back in, locking the door behind him.

Hermione was so angry she couldn't even respond to that. She stomped back over to her room slamming the door behind her hugging her stuffed animal lion she fumed.

How could he have been so...so...tactless? Saying she wasn't ladylike! Just because she didn't giggle every time a boy passed by, she didn't play stupid games like truth or dare, and she certainly didn't wear vast amount of make-up so she looked like an over done China Doll. Did that make her not ladylike?

She sat there in silence for fifteen minutes, cursing Ron. Suddenly there was a knock on her door, making her jump.

Ron opened the door, hair dripping onto her floor, and said, "Showers open," he spotted Hermione sitting on the floor looking very upset with her stuffed lion in hand, "What's wrong?"

She shot daggers at him. "Nothing," she said and coldly swept past him to the bathroom.

* * *

Later that day during lunch Hermione had huffily sat at the table the farthest away from Ron she could. Ginny sat down happily serving the sandwiches she had made. There was a fat little teapot and teacups on the table that were scurrying around trying to serve them.

The sugar bowl was having a bit of trouble with spooning out the sugar. Ron who kept urging it to put more and more sugar into to his tea received a face full, after the sugar retaliated with being put under that much pressure.

Hermione couldn't suppress a laugh seeing Ron's face ghostly white from the sugar covering it. Ron angrily wiped off his face with the tablecloth, then took the sugar bowl and shoved it in the cupboard. Hermione could still hear little thumps coming from the cupboard from which the sugar was trying to get out.

"Where's Charlie?" asked Ron looking around.

"He's out for the day. Something about needing to talk to his friend on the hellyfone. So he went in town for one," replied Ginny simply. She sat down and started to inhale her food, suspiciously like the way Ron did.

"Telephone!" Hermione corrected.

"Yeah that," muttered Ginny indifferently. "He also said we need to clean out the attic while he's gone."

Ron groaned, "Mum told him to clean that out months ago. Now he's making us do the dirty work?"

"Looks like it," said Ginny taking a large swig of her drink.

* * *

So around one o'clock all three of them trudged up to the attic. It had boxes chock full of storage. There were spider webs here and there. Hermione unfortunately walked into one, making her splutter.

"I've never been up here," Hermione said to Ginny who had a peculiar look on her face, as if she was trying hard not to sneeze. Hermione realizing one second before backed away, just then Ginny couldn't hold back any longer.

"ACHOO! No wonder," she sniffed, "it's filthy up here."

"Well we better get started," said Ron in a resigned voice. Hermione was refusing to look at him, even when he was handing out the cleaning supplies.

They cleaned for another hour. But every time Ginny sneezed- which was quite often- more dust would fall from the ceiling and land on whatever Hermione was cleaning.

Finally taking pity on her friend (and be fed up with all the falling dust) Hermione said, "Ginny the dust seamed to bother you a lot. Why don't you go downstairs and take a break?" She tried as hard as she could to sound as if she wasn't kicking her out but suggesting she needed it for her health.

Ginny sneezed making more dust fall onto Hermione's hair. "But Hermione," another sneeze, "I don't want to leave you and Ron with all the work. Even if I am allergic to the dust."

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ginny, "No I insist!" And she pushed her friend out the door to the dust-free house. (Well _almost_ dust free)

"I guess that just leaves us," she said coldly to Ron. She looked around for him, but Ron seemed to have gone missing.

"Ron?" she called a little apprehensive. What if something had happened to him? Or what if he had just quit cleaning? Or what if he fell through a floor board and broke his leg and...

She stopped, she was being stupid. "Ron?" she called again.


	3. Spider Encounter & Fly Wings

**Chapter 5: Spider Encounter & Fly Wings**

Hermione walked apprehensively around pile of boxes. She spotted Ron standing right up against the wall his eyes wide with terror.

"Ron? What is it? Did you find something?" she asked. She heard a moaning behind her and whipped around to see a large bucktooth creature with slimy, grey, flabby skin.

Hermione searched her mind desperately to think what it was. Bucktoothed and slimy; it clicked; it was the ghoul in Ron's attic. It took one long dimwitted look at Hermione and ran off, hitting a pipe in its haste. The sound of crashing and large metal objects falling would, in no doubt, be audible to the Thestrals in the forbidden forests at Hogwarts. It was amazing that Ron could live under it and receive a decent night's sleep.

Hermione also wondered why Ron would be so timorous of the ghoul. She was sure he would have seen it before, as he had to come up here. But then she followed Ron's gaze to see a diminutive spider on the floor.

Hermione let out a sigh of relief mixed with slight disappointment that Ron was so terrified of something so small. Well, Fred had transfigured his teddy bear at the age of five, so..., "Oh Ron there's nothing to be afraid of. It's about sixteenth of your size!"

She down and picked up the spider by one of its miniscule legs. It thrashed and wiggled its small body scrambling to be let down. This, obviously, was too much for Ron. He dropped the rag he was holding and flung himself into a little wooden closet that was in the attic. It banged closed behind him.

Hermione rolled her eyes, laid the spider down and followed Ron. Upon opening the closet, she saw that Ron was hunched up in the corner of the closet. He looked very funny, like a very tall five year old child. He had his knees up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. His head was obscured by his blazing red hair and he was rocking back and forth muttering. "Spiders... don't like spiders." Hermione felt he was being childish and needed to get over his petty fear.

"Ron, you mustn't get so worked up over a tiny little harmless spider. One day that will become more of a problem for you. What if you're a ministry wizard and your boss wants you to get something out of the closet. But when you reach the closet a spider comes  
down. Will you run back and not do your job?" Ron looked up.

However, she couldn't see his face because it was concealed by shadow now.. She took a step closer to see his expression, shutting the door behind her.

"No! Hermione I just remembered, don't-" Ron began.

"No Ron, you better stop this. You're way too old to be this childish. Just like this morning; calling me unladylike. Well let me tell you something, I may not be like one of those giggling idiots, but I'm still a girl. Which, by the way, took you four years to  
notice!"

Ron looked taken aback, "I was just going to say that the door only opens from the outside." He smiled weakly at her.

Hermione whipped around and started pulling at the doorknob. -If only she had her wand- "It can't be," she kicked at it, "great, just great." She slumped down against the wall. "Now we're stuck here, and it's your entire fault."

"Mine! You shut the door." protested Ron back.

"Well if you hadn't been so afraid of spiders..." she shot back.

"Just drop it, ok?" said Ron sounding tired.

Hermione crossed her arms and sniffed.

"Maybe Ginny will come up checking for us, and open the door," said Ron hopefully.

Hermione only glared back. Optimism is the last thing she needed right now. She was stuck in a dirty closet, with he biggest git in the world. (Next to Draco  
Malfoy, of course) And, she did not have a solution for the problem facing her, which always made her difficult.

Ron still tried at conversation, "Did you see the ghoul? Cool, huh? I come up here a lot and I usually bring him treats."

"Why do you come up here often?" said Hermione. Her voice still had coldness to it, but she was still interested in what Ron was saying.

"There's a set of stairs that leads to a little hidden patio on the roof. I like to go think about...stuff," Ron said quickly. "Like... what kind of stuff?" Hermione asked. Ron would brood? How odd. Maybe he more of 'the emotional range of a tablespoon now.'

Ron shifted uncomfortably, "School, Harry, You-Know-Who...you." Ron seemed very interested in his shoes.

Hermione, even though she didn't wear makeup or 'provocative' clothing was still a girl and therefore was taken aback. Ron was her friend, so he had every right to think about her. What was unusual about that? It was more the way he said it though... the way his face and ears turned pink with embarrassment in addition to his slightly nervous body language. But, perhaps, that was still the aftermath of the spider.

Just then light flooded in and the door opened. "ACHOO!" It was Ginny; Hermione realized that she had to have the _worst_ timing in the world.

Ginny was giving them a funny look that made Hermione say, "What?"

"What are you two doing here?"

Both Ron and Hermione burst into explanation.

"Well you see Ron was acting like..."

"It was HUGE about 5 feet long...

"And then he ran into the closet..."

"Tried to bite off my neck. So I kicked it off me and ran for cover..."

Ginny just smiled evilly at them, "Were you two _snogging_?"

Hermione felt all the blood rush to her face. "Of course not, what would make you think that?"

Hermione cast a look at Ron and he was bright red, mouthing wordlessly at Ginny. Ginny was looking extremely smug, as if she had just heard a particular big piece of gossip.

"Sure, whatever. I just wanted to tell you-" She was cut off by a voice sounding out through the attic.

Familiarly surged through Hermione and she felt relived. "Ginny? Are they up here?"

It was Harry.

* * *

"Harry?' Hermione asked flabbergasted. "But you said you weren't coming until-"

"Change of plans," Harry said gruffly, cutting sharply cross her.

Hermione looked at her other best friend. He looked _different. _His hair still messy, and the same skinny frame, and he still had the hunched over demeanor which he looked very self-conscious. But there was something there, in his eyes that hadn't been there before. Usually his green eyes seemed to be an open window, showing all his emotions. But now the shutters were closed and all emotions were cut off from the rest of the world.

"Well, welcome mate," she heard Ron say tensely from some far off distant land. Then everything came back into focus, as if she traveled hundreds of miles. All blurs became sharp clear pictures so fast that she stumbled back a bit, kicking up some dust.

"Don't you think this might be a bit a of a surprise… I mean it might be a bit of a shock for Charlie but I'm sure he'll understand," Ron said. He smiled trying to cheer up Harry, who seemed so sad with his puppy dog eyes and his bashful manor that Hermione felt the urge to give him a huge hug, but that wasn't what Harry looked in the mood for now.

"Oh Charlie already knows," said Harry waving this aside.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked wondering how this was possible. "Charlie has been in town all day."

Harry obviously didn't want to be pushed on the subject, "Look, let's talk later. This attic doesn't seem very fun anyway."

Ron smiled, "Anybody up for a game of Quidditch?"

"Yeah!" she heard Ginny and Harry say in unison. She rolled her eyes but followed them anyway. Maybe she could get her Charms essay done…

* * *

The hot sunshine beat down from the blistering sky. Above, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were playing Quidditch. _More like throwing the quaffle around while diving at one another. Honestly what's the point?_ Hermione thought moodily.

She averted her eyes from her Charms essay about an hour later to see a sweaty Ron walking towards her, broom placed over his shoulder. Hermione tilted her head; Ron seemed to be _strutting_. It seemed very strange for him, walking along with his jeans gasping his thighs. And his face looked too smug to be _allowed_.

He walked over and sat down next to Hermione clearly waiting for her to ask him why he was acting so strange. But Hermione stayed quite, acting as if she was so into her work she hadn't even noticed Ron sitting next to her. Ron cleared his throat. Looking up, she noticed with a grim satisfaction he had a very annoyed look set upon his freckled face.

Finely she couldn't take him glaring any longer, "What's up Ron?"

Ron sighed, "Oh nothing, but I just beat Harry at Quidditch!"

Hermione tried hard to roll her eyes, "How could you tell? You all were just zooming around dive bombing each other. I hardly could call that a game of quidditch."

Ron glared at her, "For your information we were playing a special game of Quidditch."

"So special you can have three people and two teams?" she shot back. She didn't know why she was being so harsh on him, but some small part of her knew she was getting back at him for the shower comment.

"Yes," Ron quipped back. His nose shot up in the air and he folded his arms across his chest stubbornly. Again Hermione was forcibly reminded of an overgrown two-year-old.

"Where have those two gotten anyway?" she asked Ron glancing sideways.

"Who?" he asked his voice a little to sharp.

"Harry and Ginny," she answered back calmly. She knew he was acting stupid on propose.

Ron ruffled his hair unnecessarily, stretched out under the tree yawning. Finally he answered, "Erm, they said something about putting away their brooms away in the shed."

Just then Ginny's red hair emerged from over the Weasley's fence. _That's funny the sheds that way_, she thought to herself looking in the opposite direction of the approaching Ginny and Harry. She didn't have time to voice this to Ron because right then Harry and Ginny had sprawled out next to them.

Ginny fanned herself, "Whew, it's hot."

Harry was smiling at her, watching her hand move back and forth like a cat watching his tail swish. "Quidditch was great too," he agreed.

Ron was leaning against the tree, his hands behind his head, "Yeah especially since I beat your arse off!"

At this Ron and Harry started in a heated discussion about who had won the game. But Hermione was to busy watching Harry. Every few seconds he would glance at Ginny, smiling. Hermione was unnerved by Harry's smile in a way she couldn't explain. It was a smile with no gentleness or laughter but with an almost _longing_. And his eyes were still shut off and cold. A_t least he's smiling_, she thought to herself. Also an annoying fly was swirling around their heads, buzzing annoyingly.

Ginny turned to Hermione, "I'm going to go get some food in the kitchen, I'm _starved_."

Hermione nodded, "Do you need any help?"

Ginny shook her head, "No, I'll got Ron to help me carry it out." Hermione's stomach growled loudly. "I'll bring some out for you too, ok?" she added smiling playfully.

Hermione watched Ginny cross the garden and enter the house before hearing Ron ask, "So Harry, what's up mate?"

Harry looked solemnly at Ron blinking in the sunlight. The same fly was spinning around his head and Harry seemed intent on catching it. "The Dursleys kicked me out," he said after a while, indifferently.

Hermione gasped and heard Ron make a noise of protest. "So they just…_kicked you out_?" asked Hermione as if the last words were ludicrous.

Harry lunged forward; Hermione thought he was coming after her but had just caught the annoying fly. Then he shrugged, still holding the fly in his hand, and his face darkened, "Oh they got what they deserved." Hermione shuddered at the look on Harry's face.

Ron looked bewildered, "What do you mean-"

Ginny's voice ran out from the kitchen, "Ron come help me in here! I need you to bring the cutlery out!"

Ron followed Ginny's path to the house. Hermione glanced at Harry who seemed perfectly occupied with pulling the fly's wings off of which he had just caught.

* * *

A/n: Wasn't this chapter a bit longer? I know that doesn't excuse the month of not updating.

Questions: When is Ron going to stp being a git? What were Harry and Ginny doing? Who won the quidditch game? And what the he11 is up with Harry?

Thanks R/R!


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